I flipped open my Bible for the first time in a long time & read this passage in Job. Some of you may see fire & brimstone, punishment,old fashioned ideas, etc. but under the rhetoric of ancient times, I see a message of hope. Life tests us & it is only when we lose hope that we are truly in danger. We must help one another to remember that even in difficult times hope can be found. It is never too late to find hope or to reach out to another struggling in the dark night.
"In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, it is then He opens the ears of men and as a warning to them, terrifies them; by turning man from evil and keeping pride away from him, He witholds his soul from the pit and his life from passing to the grave. Or a man is chastened on his bed by pain and unceasing suffering within his frame, so that to his appetite food becomes repulsive, and his senses reject the choisest nourishment. His flesh is wasted so that it cannot be seen, and his bones, once invisible, appear;his soul draws near to the pit, his life to the places of the dead. If then there be an angel for him, one out of a thousand, a mediator, to show him what is right for him and bring the man back to justice, He will take pity on him and say, "Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found him a ransom". Then his flesh shall become soft as a boy's; he shall be again as in the days of his youth. He shall pray and God will favor him; he shall see God's face with rejoicing. He shall sing before men and say, "I sinned and did wrong, yet he has not punished me accordingly. He delivered my soul from passing to the pit and I behold the light of life". Lo, all these things God does, twice or thrice for a man, bringing back his soul from the pit to the light, in the land of the living".
peace & joy,
holobon
